Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
1. In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
2. Claims 1-2, 11-12, 16-17, and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner et al. (2022/0094207) in view of Wang (2019/0036372).
As to claim 1, Truettner teaches an energy harvester device (wireless charger 100) comprising:
one or more processors (Fig. 2, processing unit 205);
an energy harvester (wireless charger 100) configured to capture energy from one or more energy sources in the environment ([0020] - The wireless charger 100 configured to receive DC voltage for the source of power, such as a solar panel, a wind turbine, a battery pack, or the like);
a wireless power transmitter configured to transmit power wirelessly to one or more external audio playback devices within the environment (claim 1; abstract and [0004] - The wireless charger includes an alternating current to direct current converter configured to provide direct current power and a transmitter antenna configured to convert direct current power received from the alternating current to direct current converter to the alternating current power and transmit the alternating current power to each of the plurality of battery packs. The wireless charger also includes a communication circuit configured to transmit communication signals to an external device and [0031] - The external device 305 is, for example, a smart phone (as illustrated), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or another electronic device capable of communicating wirelessly with the wireless charger 100 and providing a user interface); and
data storage having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 2, memory 225), cause the energy harvester device to perform operations comprising:
determine a power parameter of the device, the power parameter characterizing one or more of: energy captured via the energy harvester, an energy storage level of an energy storage of the energy harvester device, power consumed via the device, power transmitted via the wireless power transmitter, an energy storage level of the one or more external audio playback devices, or power consumed via the one or more external audio playback devices ([0027] - The indicators 245 can be configured to display conditions of, or information associated with, battery packs coupled to the wireless charger 100, such as battery pack 400 illustrated in FIG. 4. For example, the indicators 245 can display information relating to the charging state of the battery pack 400, such as the charging or battery pack capacity, input power, output power, charge time, etc. The indicators 245 also displays information relating to a fault condition, or other abnormality, of the wireless charger 100). Truettner does not explicitly discuss based on the power parameter, modifying operation of the energy harvester device.
Wang teaches the requested voltage is determined according to the output power of the wireless charger and the voltage conversion coefficient, the terminal sends the requested voltage and the preset initial current to the wireless charger, the initial current at this moment is usually relatively low, the wireless charger outputs the wireless signal according to the requested voltage and initial current sent by the terminal, and the terminal generates the charging signal according to the wireless signal output from the wireless charger, calculates the output power of the wireless charger and the charging power of the terminal respectively, detects whether the FOD event occurs according to the power, when it is detected that the FOD event occurs, gradually increases the requested current according to the preset step length, for example, 100 mA, and sends the increased requested current and the requested voltage to the wireless charger to increase the output power of the wireless charger until the current output from the wireless charger reaches the output current upper limit value corresponding to the requested voltage supported by it ([0048, 0072]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Wang into the teachings of Truettner for the purpose of increasing the output power of the wireless charger until the current output from the wireless charger reaches the output current upper limit value corresponding to the requested voltage supported by it.
As to claims 2, 17, and 20, Wang teaches the energy harvester device of claim 1, the method of claim 16, and the computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein modifying operation of the energy device comprises one or more of: modifying an amount or duration or wireless power transmission ([0048, 0072] - the requested voltage is determined according to the output power of the wireless charger and the voltage conversion coefficient, the terminal sends the requested voltage and the preset initial current to the wireless charger, the initial current at this moment is usually relatively low, the wireless charger outputs the wireless signal according to the requested voltage and initial current sent by the terminal, and the terminal generates the charging signal according to the wireless signal output from the wireless charger, calculates the output power of the wireless charger and the charging power of the terminal respectively, detects whether the FOD event occurs according to the power, when it is detected that the FOD event occurs, gradually increases the requested current according to the preset step length, for example, 100 mA, and sends the increased requested current and the requested voltage to the wireless charger to increase the output power of the wireless charger until the current output from the wireless charger reaches the output current upper limit value corresponding to the requested voltage supported by it); modifying a selection of external audio playback devices designated for receiving the wireless power transmitted; modifying audio playback via one or more audio transducers of the energy harvester device; disabling one or more microphones of the energy harvester device; or placing the energy harvester device in an idle mode.
As to claim 11, Truettner teaches the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the harvester is configured to captured power from at least one of: solar, energy, thermal energy, salinity gradients, or kinetic energy ([0020] - The wireless charger 100 may also be configured to receive DC voltage for the source of power, such as a solar panel, a wind turbine, a battery pack, or the like).
As to claim 12, Truettner teaches the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the wireless charger 100 may also be configured to receive DC voltage for the source of power, such as a solar panel, a wind turbine, a battery pack, or the like ([0020]).
As to claim 16, Truettner teaches a method comprising:
determining a power parameter of an energy harvester the device (wireless charger 100) comprising an energy harvester (wireless charger 100) and a wireless power transmitter(claim 1; abstract and [0004] - The wireless charger includes an alternating current to direct current converter configured to provide direct current power and a transmitter antenna configured to convert direct current power received from the alternating current to direct current converter to the alternating current power and transmit the alternating current power to each of the plurality of battery packs. The wireless charger also includes a communication circuit configured to transmit communication signals to an external device), the power parameter characterizing one or more of: energy captured via the energy harvester, an energy storage level of an energy storage of the energy harvester device, power consumed via the device, power transmitted via the wireless power transmitter, an energy storage level of the one or more external audio playback devices, or power consumed via the one or more external audio playback devices ([0027] - The indicators 245 can be configured to display conditions of, or information associated with, battery packs coupled to the wireless charger 100, such as battery pack 400 illustrated in FIG. 4. For example, the indicators 245 can display information relating to the charging state of the battery pack 400, such as the charging or battery pack capacity, input power, output power, charge time, etc. The indicators 245 also displays information relating to a fault condition, or other abnormality, of the wireless charger 100). Truettner does not explicitly discuss based on the power parameter, modifying operation of the energy harvester device.
Wang teaches the requested voltage is determined according to the output power of the wireless charger and the voltage conversion coefficient, the terminal sends the requested voltage and the preset initial current to the wireless charger, the initial current at this moment is usually relatively low, the wireless charger outputs the wireless signal according to the requested voltage and initial current sent by the terminal, and the terminal generates the charging signal according to the wireless signal output from the wireless charger, calculates the output power of the wireless charger and the charging power of the terminal respectively, detects whether the FOD event occurs according to the power, when it is detected that the FOD event occurs, gradually increases the requested current according to the preset step length, for example, 100 mA, and sends the increased requested current and the requested voltage to the wireless charger to increase the output power of the wireless charger until the current output from the wireless charger reaches the output current upper limit value corresponding to the requested voltage supported by it ([0048, 0072]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Wang into the teachings of Truettner for the purpose of increasing the output power of the wireless charger until the current output from the wireless charger reaches the output current upper limit value corresponding to the requested voltage supported by it.
Claim 19 is rejected for the same reasons discussed above with respect to claim 16. Furthermore, Truettner teaches tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions when executed by one or more processors ([0008, 0023, 0036]).
3. Claims 3 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of Masui (2019/0297410).
As to claims 3 and 18, Truettner and Wang do not explicitly discuss the energy harvester device of claim 1 and the method of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise modifying operation of at least one of the one or more external audio playback devices based at least in part on the power parameter, wherein modifying operation of at least one of the one or more external audio playback devices comprises: modifying audio playback via at least one of one or more external audio playback devices; disabling one or more microphones of at least one of the one or more external audio playback devices; or placing at least one of the one or more external audio playback devices in an idle mode.
Masui teaches determining whether the external terminal 200 is in a stopped state or in a playback state by setting the volume threshold used for determining that the external terminal 200 is in a stopped state or in a playback state, to have a smaller value than the volume threshold used for determining that the external terminal 200 is in the playback state ([0042]); and when detecting that the state of the external terminal 200 has changed from the playback state to the stopped state, the detection circuitry 202 changes the value of the coefficient α1 from “1” to “0” smoothly over a length of time Td, and changes the value of the coefficient α2 from “0” to “1” smoothly over the length of time Td, as shown in FIG. 7 for example. Accordingly, when the length of time Td has passed since the state of the external terminal 200 changed from playback state to the stopped state, the value of the coefficient α1 will be “0” and the value of the coefficient α2 will be “1” ([0047]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Masui into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of performing the correction processing on a signal derived from an ambient sound received by the microphone, by suppressing these abnormal sounds.
4. Claims 4, 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of Wang (CN201383874Y).
As to claim 4, Truettner and Wang do not explicitly discuss the energy harvester device of claim 1, further comprising a wireless power receiver configured to receive power wirelessly from one or more external transmitter devices within the environment, wherein the operations further comprise: transitioning between (i) a wireless power transmission mode in which the energy harvester device transmits wireless power to one or more external audio playback devices within the environment and (ii) a wireless power receiver mode in which the energy harvester device receives wireless power from one or more external transmitter devices within the environment.
Wang (CN 201383874) teaches transmitting via the wireless power transmitter (Figs.1 &2,11, Fig. 4, L1) power from portable remote controller 11 to the wireless power receiver (Fig 1, 12; Fig. 5, L2) of the audio playback device (Figs. 1&3, earphone 12).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Wang (CN 201383874) into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of utilizing wireless power supply, wireless data transmission, and adaptive audio processing technology that can be customized into fully enclosed in-ear designs using transparent, tailored to the shape of the ear canal.
As to claim 13, Wang (CN 201383874) teaches the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the wireless power transmitter wirelessly transmit power to one or more external audio playback devices via one or more of: optical electromagnetic transmission, WiFi transmission, sonic transmission, radiofrequency transmission, or magnetic resonance ([0033] - The earphone (12) shown in Figure 3 has a wireless power receiving circuit (32) and an electromagnetic induction coil (33) and the headphone's power supply is provided by receiving electromagnetic waves at the LC resonant frequency sent by the wireless power transmission module through a wireless power receiving circuit).
5. Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of Hopkins (2014/0112506).
As to claim 5, Truettner and Wang do not explicitly discuss the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprises: detecting a user presence in the environment; and based on the user presence detection, ceasing wireless power transmission via the wireless power transmitter.
Hopkins teaches the presence of a user being detected by a camera and the user waving (see FIGS. 13-15) could then be used to start or stop the transmission of supplementary information to a personal user device associated with that user. This method could be selected as a delivery option (see step 170 of FIG. 3) during the user profile creation process ([0180]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Hopkins into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of capturing the presence of a user, selecting a delivery option during the user profile creation process to start of stop transmission of supplementary information associated with the user.
6. Claims 6-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of Bell (2017/0110887).
As to claim 6, Truettner and Wang do not explicitly discuss the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprises transmitting wireless power only to external audio playback devices within a defined energy zone group.
Bell teaches selecting location can be scene-based locations include a room, an enclosed areas within a room, an area in which wireless power transmission is authorized; physical extent of a transmission field of a wireless power transmitter; extent of overlapping transmission fields of multiple wireless power transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a receiver or pocket of energy; a zone of proximity to an electronic device; three dimensional coordinates of a pocket of energy; three dimensional coordinates of multiple pocket of energy; a space obstructed by an obstacle; a vertically limited space such as an area under a table carrying a wireless power receiver; and a location tagged by a system user via a tagging device ([0230]).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Bell into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of selecting location withing the transmission field of the wireless power transmission where an object of interest may be located or where an activity of interest may occur.
As to claim 7, Bell teaches the energy harvester device of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprises forming the energy zone group based at least in part on proximity of the energy harvester device to the one or more external audio playback devices ([0230] - physical extent of a transmission field of a wireless power transmitter; extent of overlapping transmission fields of multiple wireless power transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a receiver or pocket of energy; a zone of proximity to an electronic device; three dimensional coordinates of a pocket of energy; three dimensional coordinates of multiple pocket of energy; a space obstructed by an obstacle; a vertically limited space such as an area under a table carrying a wireless power receiver; and a location tagged by a system user via a tagging device).
As to claim 8, Bell teaches the energy harvester device of claim 7, wherein the proximity of the energy harvester device to the one or more external audio playback devices is determined based at least in part on one or more of: a signal strength of wireless power transmission between devices, a time-of-flight measurement between devices, or acoustic localization signals transmitted between devices ([0230] - a space, usually within the transmission field of the wireless power transmission system, where an object of interest may be located or where an activity of interest may occur. A selected location can be scene-based or image-based. Examples of scene-based locations include a room; an enclosed area within a room; an area in which wireless power transmission is authorized; an area in which wireless power transmission is prohibited; physical extent of a transmission field of a wireless power transmitter; extent of overlapping transmission fields of multiple wireless power transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a receiver or pocket of energy; a zone of proximity to an electronic device; three dimensional coordinates of a pocket of energy; three dimensional coordinates of multiple pocket of energy; a space obstructed by an obstacle; a vertically limited space such as an area under a table carrying a wireless power receiver; and a location tagged by a system user via a tagging device).
As to claim 9, Bell does not teach whether the energy zone group formation is dependent of audio playback responsibilities of the external audio playback devices but rather where an object of interest may be located or where an activity of interest may occur. A selected location can be scene-based or image-based. Examples of scene-based locations include a room; an enclosed area within a room; an area in which wireless power transmission is authorized; an area in which wireless power transmission is prohibited; physical extent of a transmission field of a wireless power transmitter; extent of overlapping transmission fields of multiple wireless power transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a receiver or pocket of energy; a zone of proximity to an electronic device; three dimensional coordinates of a pocket of energy; three dimensional coordinates of multiple pocket of energy; a space obstructed by an obstacle; a vertically limited space such as an area under a table carrying a wireless power receiver; and a location tagged by a system user via a tagging device [0230]); hence it would have been obvious that the energy zone group formation is independent of audio playback responsibilities of the external audio playback devices.
7. Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner, Wang, and Bell in view of Hu et al. (US Patent 10,896,679).
As to claim 10, Bell teaches the harvester device of claim 6, wherein physical extent of a transmission field of a wireless power transmitter; extent of overlapping transmission fields of multiple wireless power transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a transmitter; a zone of defined proximity to a receiver or pocket of energy; a zone of proximity to an electronic device… ([0230]). Truettner, Wang, and Bell do not explicitly discuss audio playback devices each having one or more microphones, the operations further comprising: designating a first audio playback device for processing voice input from a user that is captured via its one or more microphones and causing a second audio playback device to transition to an idle state in which voice input from a user is not processed.
Hu teaches speech-processing device 110a may comprise one or more microphones effective to capture audio, such as spoken user utterances (col. 7, lines 18-20); and a speech -processing enabled device or other device may output content (e.g., display of image data and/or video data, playback of audio, etc.) in an ambient context (e.g., during a time at which the speech-processing enabled device is in an ambient state, such as an idle state, or when no user requests are currently being processed) (col. 4, lines 57-62).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Hu into the teachings of Truettner, Wang, and Bell for the purpose of outputting content playback of audio in ambient context such as an idle state when no user requests are currently being processed.
8. Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of Wallis et al. (2010/0159895).
As to claim 14, Truettner and Wang do not explicitly discuss the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the wireless power transmitter wirelessly transmit power to the one or more external audio playback devices over a distance of greater than about 10 cm, 50 cm, or 1 m.
Wallis teaches in regard to wireless communication, the femtocell devices 100 include a range of 50 m to 100 m and transmit at a power less than or equal to 1 Watt ([0023]). It is obviously purely designed choice.
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of Wallis into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of using cellular radio technologies with femtocell devices connect to, for example, broadband networks for femtozone areas are geographic locations associated with low-powered (e.g., 1 Watt or less) cellular radio systems, ad discussed by Wallis [0014].
9. Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Truettner and Wang in view of KR 102644590 B1.
As to claim 15, Truettner teaches the energy harvester device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprises based at least in part on the power parameter, outputting guidance to a user ([0027] - The indicators 245 can be configured to display conditions of, or information associated with, battery packs coupled to the wireless charger 100, such as battery pack 400 illustrated in FIG. 4. For example, the indicators 245 can display information relating to the charging state of the battery pack 400, such as the charging or battery pack capacity, input power, output power, charge time, etc. The indicators 245 also displays information relating to a fault condition, or other abnormality, of the wireless charger 100. In addition to or in place of visual indicators, the indicators 245 also includes a speaker or a tactile feedback mechanism to convey information to a user through audible or tactile outputs). Truettner does not explicitly discuss guidance regarding device positioning within the environment.
KR 102644590 teaches the electronic device 105 provides guidance to the user to position the physical camera within the physical environment at a location relative to the electronic device 105 that matches the location of the virtual camera within the computer-generated environment (404). For example, electronic device 105 may provide the user with an augmented reality display indicating a location within the physical environment where a physical camera should be positioned (Under Example of CGR include virtual reality and mixed reality, 53rd paragraph).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teachings of KR 102644590 into the teachings of Truettner and Wang for the purpose of providing the user with an augmented reality display indicating a location within the physical environment where a physical camera should be positioned.
Conclusion
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUYNH H NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7489. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30AM-5:30PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Ahmad Matar can be reached on 571-272-7488. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/QUYNH H NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2693
